Could someone recommend some good Japanese talk shows ? I'd particularly like to see, I don't know how to say, French-like talk-shows, i.e "serious" shows preferably with several guests on the same set, in front of an audience, and where subjects such as politics, literature, culture etc. are discussed in length.

I do wish to stress "serious" : everytime I try to watch some videos of Japanese TV shows on Youtube, they're always laughing at (perceived) jokes, with flashy captions and the occasional annoying sound effects. Simply put, I'd really like to see people speaking with each others, showing their knowledge/intelligence without trying to render things funnier than they are, in a somewhat relaxed manner nonetheless.

I guess I'm looking for a compromise between what I talked about above and popularity (for two obvious reasons : first, from a cultural POV, I'd rather watch a program that has some significance in the Japanese society, and second, because it would be easier to find on Youtube or other streaming sites -- and while we're at it, an extra question : do you know of a good Japanese streaming site, other than NicoNico ?)

you might have a hard time finding that, because even the serious shows (except the news of course) have a bit of 'goofiness' to them. as word play is a very common theme in japanese tv 'game' shows and other 'hanashibanashi' shows.

two_heads_talking wrote:even the serious shows (except the news of course) have a bit of 'goofiness' to them

Kind of sad... I can understand why people like Japanese TV, but my problem is that when I try to watch clips on Youtube, everybody just looks... fake (but then I get the same impression when I watch American TV, albeit to a lesser extent. I guess I'm too accustomed to French TV [especially public service channels, which are very popular in here : a lot of debates, literary and politics shows, live theatre, etc.]).

NocturnalOcean wrote:There certainly are a range of serious shows as well. But I am not sure how easy they are to find on the internet though.

Indeed, that's a big problem. In last resort, I may have to move to Japan

please can you recommend some good shows? i'm interested too... i have no problem with flashy captions though, they're helpful. as long as the program is interesting, with some interesting opinions... or, good documentaries, too... (not too schoolly though)

even if they aren't on youtube, there are other sites, such as veoh, niconico, or random chinese sites, as well as ways to watch japanese tv outside japan.

Oracle wrote:I've seen plenty of serious discussion shows ( arts, politics etc) but they don't get posted on Youtube.

Sure, I've myself watched some interviews of politicians -- unfortunately, they were TOO serious (well, almost morbid to tell you the truth, which isn't quite what I'm looking for either). I'm never satisfied !

IceCream wrote:please can you recommend some good shows? i'm interested too... i have no problem with flashy captions though, they're helpful. as long as the program is interesting, with some interesting opinions... or, good documentaries, too... (not too schoolly though)

even if they aren't on youtube, there are other sites, such as veoh, niconico, or random chinese sites, as well as ways to watch japanese tv outside japan.

I used to use this kind of program, but unfortunately, most of the time they didn't work (for me at least). Maybe I'll give it another try.

As for documentaries, I don't know if you like Shamisen (in this case, more specifically Tsugaru-jamisen), but here's a documentary about the late Takahashi Chikuzan's disciple, who took his name : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_uEATpLp1o (five parts)

I think I had watched another documentary about the first Chikuzan himself, but well, I can"t seem to find it anymore.

Like Oracle said, there are a number of serious talkshows (although maybe not like you're thinking of) and shows that deal with serious issues. However, what are generally more popular are the shows that teach or discuss serious topics, but do so in usually a light-hearted or easy to understand fashion.

Some of the ones I like are:

行列のできる法律相談所 (Deals with legal issues)人生が変わる1分間の深イイ話 (Talk about "deep" talks/anecdotes)ベストハウス123 (Various news/tech from around the world on a certain category)いってＱ (About other countries)

(just a little update : the documentary I was talking about and that I couldn't find has indeed been deleted)

Harisenbon wrote:Like Oracle said, there are a number of serious talkshows (although maybe not like you're thinking of) and shows that deal with serious issues. However, what are generally more popular are the shows that teach or discuss serious topics, but do so in usually a light-hearted or easy to understand fashion.

Some of the ones I like are:

行列のできる法律相談所 (Deals with legal issues)人生が変わる1分間の深イイ話 (Talk about "deep" talks/anecdotes)ベストハウス123 (Various news/tech from around the world on a certain category)いってＱ (About other countries)

No idea how easy those will be to find on the net though

Yay ! Many thanks, Harisenbon ! Of course, now I have to find them, but it's a good start. The second one looks particularly intriguing.

Harisenbon wrote:Some of the ones I like are:行列のできる法律相談所 (Deals with legal issues)

You have to wait 'til the 2nd half though, the first half is usually just Shinsuke schmoozing with the guests.

いってQ

I loved last week with the giant wall of fish!

I can't recall ever seeing any panel discussions on literature or culture, although there are plenty of news/politics shows. Also, it's not exactly what you're looking for, but NHK has tons of documentaries on various subjects, which you should be able to find.

I haven't watched it lately, but I'm always up for giant walls of fish! =)I think イモト is one of the main reasons I love that show so much. She's just so full of energy.

becki_kanou wrote:I can't recall ever seeing any panel discussions on literature or culture, although there are plenty of news/politics shows.

Sunday morning on NHK and some other channels there are a lot of those types of shows, in addition to one REALLY conservative one that has actually stopped me from watching daytime TV on Sundays. They always talk about things like "Repealing ９条" and "The necessity of Japan to have a Nuclear arsenal"

becki_kanou wrote:I can't recall ever seeing any panel discussions on literature or culture, although there are plenty of news/politics shows. Also, it's not exactly what you're looking for, but NHK has tons of documentaries on various subjects, which you should be able to find.

Of course, NHK ! How come I didn't even think about it ? I checked the Wikipedia article on it, and found its slogan... "まっすぐ、真剣" ! Now *that* is one very powerful sign

Harisenbon wrote:They always talk about things like "Repealing ９条" and "The necessity of Japan to have a Nuclear arsenal"

I took a sociology class last year, and during my research on Japanese nationalism, I came across an interview of Ishihara Shintarô. So, what do you think they were talking about ?

IceCream wrote:veoh has plenty of them to be getting through for now (search fih for 深いイイ話, the rest are easy to find)

I don't use Veoh that much, but I think I'm gonna follow your suggestion !